New Fishermans Bend Secondary School Consultation Opens 23 July

We now have some more information on the new secondary school planned for Fishermans Bend which we first highlighted here.

The 2018-19 State Budget allocated $3.8 million to plan a new secondary school in Fishermans Bend. The new school will be a vertical building, located at 477 Graham Street, Port Melbourne. The Victorian School Building Authority is now seeking community input to help shape the school designs.

From Monday 23 July to Monday 13 August a web page will be available at engage.vic.gov.au/fishermans-bend-secondary-school where you can provide your views.

You can also attend one of the following drop-in workshops:

Wednesday 1 August, anytime between 6pm - 7.30pm
Port Melbourne Colts Junior Football Club, J.L Murphy Reserve
Corner Williamstown Road and Graham Street, Port Melbourne

Friday 3 August, anytime between 3pm - 5pm
Port Melbourne Primary School
415 Graham Street Port Melbourne

A summary for your fridge can be downloaded here.

For further information, please visit schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au or email vsba@edumail.vic.gov.au.

BCNA Submission on Air Quality

In May, the Victorian Government released an Air Quality Statement and invited feedback. This is one step in the Victorian Government’s preparations for the release of an Air Quality Policy in 2019.

The BCNA prepared a response drawing on local concerns about air quality at Station Pier. The pollutants at Station Pier are sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM), especially small particles (PM2.5 and smaller) as they are associated with asthma incidence and severity and other health problems, including cancer and premature mortality.

Monitoring by the Victorian Ports Corporation Melbourne (VPCM) in 2016/17 at Station Pier revealed elevated levels of sulphur dioxide and particulate matter than at nearby EPA monitoring stations at Brooklyn and Altona North. The readings for small particulate matter (PM2.5) exceeded the level specified in the State Environment Protection Policy (SEPP) (Ambient Air Quality).

The BCNA submission explains that the VPCM monitoring results should have been the trigger for the EPA to introduce an air quality program. The submission also includes discussion about the need to continue to review and revise national standards for air pollutants and that the EPA should have the capacity to proactively monitor potential problem areas. That is, it needs to proactively identify areas that are likely to have air quality issues and to monitor these areas in a timely manner to identify whether they do breach air quality standards rather than exposing the community to unmonitored long term poor air quality.

The full BCNA submission can be downloaded here.

Port Planning - Domestic Ferry and Cruise Ship Operations

The Victorian Ports Corporation Melbourne (VPCM) received $5.8 million in the recent State Budget. This is to undertake planning works to facilitate the growth of domestic ferry and cruise ship operations. As part of this process the VPCM will be convening a series of stakeholder engagement meetings over the next six months to hear from the community. The BCNA has been invited to participate.

The VPCM is taking a wide view of the problems in the area. They are committed to exploring solutions to improve traffic flow. Given this, the BCNA has developed an initial list of issues for discussion with the VPCM. The list includes:

• Traffic issues (adequacy of the queuing lane and the Princes Street roundabout)
• Station Pier (cruise ship visitors need easy movement from ship to shore)
• The need for a taxi/bus area for cruise ship visitors
• Public realm improvements (the whole area is very weather exposed)
• Lack of shops and amenities
• Parking
• The need to work closely with Melbourne Water so that the storm water drain can be realigned as part of any capital works program.

Our complete list of issues can be downloaded here.